To make an enemy of Death herself
by Master Hexer
Summary: What if there was someone watching from the sidelines of the Nightmare war? What if she was there to teach Pitch a lesson? That killing a spirit came with a high price. Pitch continues to fight until his last breath, but will he see the error of his ways before this mysterious spirit claims his soul as her property? Can he change his fate for the better and continue to live?


Hey people. Just so you know, this is my second ever fan fiction, so I hope you like it. For some reason I couldn't get the chapters to work properly, so its kinda stuck like this till I can figure it out.

I'd really appreciate it if you read and review, so I know whether or not I'm writing good stuff.

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Chapter 1

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1692

Pitch Black strode around the town of Salem completely confident in his surroundings. No one would dare stand against him here, he was too powerful. The Salem Witch Trials were supplying him with so much fear that he was able to be seen by many people in Europe.

Oh the fear he felt. It was intoxicating. He felt powerful.

The humans feared witches in this day and age, and executed those who they saw were possessed by demons, but it did nothing. All it ever did was feed him more and more fear.

The scent of fear was dragging him to the center of town. Another execution no doubt, the smell of this fear was coming from an unfortunate little girl who feared for her life. To the Nightmare king, this fear tasted different from other forms of fear, not as sweet. But it was still fear, and he wouldn't pass an opportunity to feed, just in case he couldn't retain his high position.

With those guardians, he could never really tell. They had knocked him down before so he must be careful and gather as much power as he could. He didn't want to be completely thrown from this world. He would rule this world, eventually.

The sound of shouts grew loud to his ears as the crowds gathered at the hanging platform. As his golden eclipse eyes gazed at the platform, he could see four figures. The man who read the charges, the executioner and the child who would die. But the fourth figure should not have been there, in fact, people should have been screaming at her and calling her a demon at the sight of her.

Her draconian wings, tail and horns should have been cause enough for them to cry 'devil'. But it seemed that no one noticed. A spirit then.

The executioner forcibly wrapped the noose around the little girls neck and gripped the handle of the platform. The girl whimpered in fear as her death drew near. Pitch could smell her fear from here, it was as thick as black smoke.

He could see the dragon girl comforting the child and holding her tiny hand in a futile attempt at comfort. The executioner prepared to pull the leaver and the girl cried. Her guardian spirit whispered words in her ear to soothe the child, who calmed and smiled in the last seconds of her life.

The platform opened, and she dropped to her death. The crowd roared as the so called 'witch' was killed. The dragon woman bowed her head in sadness before reaching down to the child's body. Her hand phased through her chest and extracted her soul.

Pitch's eyes widened. This spirit was death herself. The Grim Reaper.

After her work was finished, she stood up and looked out at the crowd with a disgusted look in her eyes. Then her gaze met Pitch's and her face changed. It was if she felt nothing.

She opened her wings and with a mighty stroke, she launched herself into the air and flew away.

That was the day Pitch Black first met Death. And it wasn't his last…

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Chapter 2

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2012

'You take the ones on the left, I'll take the ones on the right?" Jack Frost smiled at Sandy as the Nightmares closed in on them. In front of them both, Pitch Black rode in on his main Nightmare Onyx.

"Boo."

The Nightmares charged. Sandy struck out his whips and killed the nightmares as they got too close. Just as the fight started, North's sleigh flew overhead, with three unconscious guardians in the back, one at the wheel. Pitch watched them crash into different things on the road and a few buildings before looking back at Sandy and Jack.

The Nightmares overwhelming numbers threatened to overpower the two of them. Summoning a cloud of dream sand, Sandy shot into the air after grabbing a hold of Jack's arm and pulling him along into the air. The Nightmares jumped into the air after them.

Now fully awake, the guardians flew after the Nightmares, cutting them down. Now the real battle had begun. Pitch laughed and urged his Nightmare into the sky after them. The Nightmares already fighting went after the guardians individually, instead of all together, but Pitch knew it would still wear them down.

He saw Frost take out three Nightmares by dropping out of the sky, and in the process, he let go of his staff. Pitch hoped that he wouldn't grab it, but his hopes were in vain as he quickly got back in control of himself as he fell and landed on part of North's sleigh.

But now his focus was completely on Sandy, who killed any Nightmare that jumped out at him from the swirling mass around him. While Sandy's back was turned, Pitch rose up on a cloud of Nightmare sand, and crafted an arrow to shoot at the little dream weaver.

He took aim and pulled his arm back, ready to fire, before letting the arrow speed on its way to the Sandman's back. His aim was true and it hit.

He heard the frost boy scream below for his dying comrade. He laughed in triumph. "Don't fight the fear little man."

Pitch saw the Nightmares double their efforts at going after the guardians, holding them back from saving Sandy.

"I'd say 'sweet dreams', but there aren't any left."

But Sanderson refused to cower in the face of fear at the time of his death. He locked eyes with Pitch in defiance before closing them in acceptance at his fate.

Jack Frost charged at him in anger as the last golden flakes of dream sand were corrupted to black, creating even more nightmares in his army.

'Time to finish one more.' Pitch thought, as he raised his army and sent a hundred Nightmares at Jack. He watched them ram into him and knock him back. He smiled at his victory, but his smile changed to confusion as the nightmare sand trembled and froze in spikes of blue ice. The Nightmare sand and ice flew back at him and knocked him off, sending him crashing down into the forest of Burgess.

After about a minute, Pitch stood up from his fall. Already his Nightmares were returning to him. He laughed in glee at his victory and watched as the guardians retreated through a magical snow globe.

"Finally, someone who knows how to have a little fun." He smiled to himself, knowing that the next battle would be great fun for him.

"Oh, but what about poor little old me?" said a new voice.

Pitch whipped around and his eyes locked onto those of another spirit.

She wore a slim black dress that ended three quarters of the way up her knees over top of black leggings and knee high black leather boots. The front of the dress covered her entire chest and fastened around the neck, like a choker necklace. Her hands were covered up to her elbows with black gloves and the back of the dress was open to accommodate large black and scarlet dragon wings. On her head were two large horns that grew upwards like a crown. Her tail twitched behind her as she stood.

She flicked her short black hair out of her eyes with a gloved hand and stared at Pitch with her blood red eyes.

Pitch's nightmares cowered before her and backed away from her. "The Lady Reaper. To what do I owe this visit?" Pitch asked politely.

"Cut the crap, Pitchiner. You know exactly why I am here. You killed another spirit." She spat. Pitch immediately went on the defensive.

"Why are you accusing me of killing one person when you've done it every single day since the dawn of time?"

She glared in hatred at him. "I do not kill. I reap the souls of the dead, but I never kill. You however, are a murderer. You killed another spirit. A crime with great repercussions."

"So what are you going to do, huh? You said it yourself, you do not kill, and I doubt you will kill me because of this. You wouldn't dare do the deed yourself anyway.

So what are you going to do to me, stick me in the naughty corner? Take away my sweets? Lock me in my room? Ha! Even if the price for killing another spirit is death, you will never do it." He spat back at her.

"You are right." She said offhandedly. "I don't kill, and I'm not here to kill you because of your crime."

She walked up to him casually until she was in range. Her hand shot out and grabbed him by his throat, and pushed him back so he was pinned against a tree. Pitch struggled to breath and couldn't pry her hand away.

Her blood red eyes bore a hole into his soul and she bared her fangs at him. She brought her free hand up to her mouth and pulled off the glove with her teeth, revealing razor sharp claws stained red with blood.

Her hand dropped to his chest and opened the front of his cloak just enough to reveal the left side of his chest. Pitch's heart sped up. Her intentions were definitely not good.

She pressed her hand against the skin above his frantically beating heart. He felt his skin heat up at her touch and felt his cheeks burn. She noticed, and grinned at him. It was a grin that put him on edge. Without warning she plunged her claws into his flesh, making him cry out in pain. Her claws dug deeper until she found his beating heart. With her hand currently phased through his flesh she grabbed onto a small piece of his soul ad forcibly yanked it out of him.

A roar of pain tore its way out of his throat and he fell to the ground in pain. Death took the piece of his soul and trapped it inside a small glass jar necklace that she kept on a long chain around her neck.

"I just came to tell you that you forfeit your soul when you killed Sanderson. Your soul now belongs to me, and I'm taking this little piece of it as payment for now. At the event of your death, whenever that may occur, the rest of your soul shall belong in my possession, until then that vessel you call a body owns the rest of it. This is the price a spirit must pay for killing another spirit."

Pitch gasped as he struggled to breath, not believing what she was saying. He just managed to choke out a hate filled "How dare you?" before she turned to walk away.

She crouched down to his eye level and gently grabbed his chin with her clawed hand. He flinched away from her but her grip became firm. "There is no way out of this contract Pitchiner. The only one who can cheat death is Death herself. But you can still change your fate. What I do to you later can still be determined by you. Accept the truth of yourself and this world and repent for your sins, and your fate may be changed in your favor."

She let go of him and walked away into the darkness of the forest. "Don't leave it too late Pitchiner, only I know how long you have left." Pitch watched her open her wings to their fullest extent and launch herself into the air and out of his sight.

He would worry about her later. Right now, he had a job to do.

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Chapter 3

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"It's over Pitch. There's no place to hide."

Jack Frost and the rest of the Guardians cornered him in an alleyway. Pitch was trapped with nowhere to go, at least that's what they thought. With a defiant laugh Pitch melted into the shadows so the guardians couldn't catch him. Using his control over the shadows, he projected multiple shadow forms of himself against the walls to confuse them.

Pitch watched, hidden in the shadows as a perfect opportunity arose. Jack Frost's back was turned, and he had no idea where he was. A perfect opportunity to strike him down.

Pitch reappeared from the shadows with his gigantic scythe, raising it above his head ready to strike the winter sprite down for good.

"Jack, look out!" Shouted Bunny. But it was no use, not even his enchanted boomerang could stop Pitch now. Jack couldn't even raise his little Popsicle stick of a staff to defend himself.

The blade came down- only to be stopped by a stream of dream sand.

'Dream sand?' he thought. 'Oh no.'

Pitch was then yanked back with a startled cry, before landing and skidding along a layer of snow in front of a giant ball of dream sand that formed into none other than the dream weaver himself.

'Oh shit!' he thought. All he could do was look at Sandy in horror, before the little man wagged a finger at him as if saying 'Oh no you don't.' and planted an uppercut in his face.

Pitch screamed as he was thrown in the air, only faintly realizing he was still being held onto by a dream sand whip. His breath was forced out of him as he got dragged down to earth, very quickly, and landed face first in the snow.

Pitch felt so sore. Everything hurt. He didn't even have the strength to moan in pain.

'That's it. I give up. I frigin give up. I'm done!' he thought. 'Of course I wasn't going to win, I never was going to win. Fate was never kind to me, and Karma is just being a real bitch.' Pitch kept thinking and mumbling curses to himself and boring a hole into the snow with his eyes. Then something in him snapped. It was if the penny had finally dropped. 'Fear was never meant to rule.' No matter what happened, there would always be some sort of balance between light and dark.

'It's all been for nothing. I was doomed to fail from the beginning.' So therefore it was pointless to lay there in the snow and let his face go numb with the cold. All he could do now was retreat. Maybe after a much needed break he could think of a way for him to bring fear back into this world, so that he may have power and actually live. Not just survive, but live.

He felt so crushed and defeated that just living would be acceptable for him.

He slowly stood up and surveyed his surroundings. Children were everywhere having a massive snowball fight. There were even yetis, elves, mini fairies, egg golems and the Guardians. All having fun despite the fear they felt just minutes before.

No one was paying attention to him, so now was the perfect time to slip away to his lair. All he wanted to do now was rest. He took a few steps in the direction of the forest, but the sound of a child's laughter came very close to him. He turned around just in time to see that little kid, Jamie, running towards him. But all he did was phase right through him. It made Pitch feel physical pain and made him cry out without meaning to.

The Guardian's heads snapped to where he was. There goes his chances of sneaking away quietly. Pitch watched as their looks of surprise turn into ones of anger. They weren't going to let him get away.

Pitch looked at them in fear, and ran. His heart was filled with fear as he ran from the Guardians, he feared what they would do to him if they captured him.

He looked over his shoulder just as his feet ran over the frozen lake. He couldn't see the Guardians coming after him, yet.

But his hopes were in vain as he crashed into the solid form of North. Pitch fell backwards onto the ice and tried to get away.

"Leaving the party so soon?" he asked, too cheerily. "You didn't even say goodbye." Said Tooth. She threw something down at him which he caught out of reflex.

"A quarter?" He looked back up at her just in time to see the punch come at him. Pitch felt his tooth get knocked out from the impact of the punch.

"Can't you people just leave me now? I give up. I frigin give up. Just let me go already." He cried. Pitch felt like he was beyond broken now. And worse yet, he could see his nightmares returning, and they were hunting him.

Bunnymund stepped forward, cracking his knuckles. "Oh no you don't. We aint letting you go so easy, Pitch. You still got hell to pay."

Pitch's fear returned. "Alright, alright. I get it. I know I did wrong. I know it was a stupid idea. I give up. Can't you understand that Bunnymund. I've had enough. I don't want any more of this. I'm done!" he cried. By now tears had started pooling in his eyes. The other Guardians looked shocked as the boogieman cried out that he had enough. Bunnymund however still wanted revenge.

He grabbed Pitch by the front of his robe and hoisted him up in the air, fist raised to hit him. Pitch's fear grew and the Nightmares looked ready to pounce.

"Now, now Bunnymund. You wouldn't dare go and damage my property would you?" came a new voice. Pitch's eyes snapped open in pure terror and he felt his heart skip at least two beats.

Suddenly a large winged figure dropped in between Bunny and Pitch, forcing them both to jump apart.

All five guardians stood frozen to the ground at the appearance of this new spirit, but grew even more shocked than before as they saw Pitch cry out in horror and back away as fast as he could – to no avail – away from the spirit.

They heard him repeat the word 'no' over and over as he tried to get away.

"Pitchiner, is that really how you say hello to me?"

Frost was the first person to speak. "Who the bloody hell are you?"

Tooth smacked him in the back of his head. "Language, Jack."

"Bloody hell is right Jackson. For I am the one who sends people there. Ha ha." Jack just looked clueless.

In the background, the advancing Nightmares halted.

"Jack, this is the Grim Reaper. Lady Death." Said North, who stood frozen in her presence.

"How's spirit life treated you Jackson? It's been so long since I saw you, at least three hundred years, give or take."

Pitch had been taking this time to try and escape from Death, but the instance he tried to sneak away in a shadow, Death whipped around and extended her hidden blade. Her scythe manifested into her hands and the blade brushed against the back of his neck, halting his retreat.

"Ah, ah, ah. What did I tell you Pitch? The only person who can escape death is Death herself. And I don't plan to let you get away. You belong to me now."

"What!?" all the guardians said at the same time.

"What do you mean Pitch is your property?" said Toothiana.

"It means, Tooth, that Pitch forfeit his soul to me when he killed Sanderson. And at the event of his death the remainder of his soul that he possesses will become my property."

Pitch was absolutely horrified. "But it's only been two days! You can't make that deal when I only have two days left. How could you?!"

"You committed the crime two days ago, that was when the deal was initiated. And the day of your death was today. I didn't have any control over the exact date of your death, and I didn't have any control over you when you killed Sandy. So yes, it was, and is, possible for this to occur. Today is your due date Pitchiner. This day, I have been sent to reap your soul."

Pitch couldn't hold it in any longer. The tears welling up in the corner of his eyes finally fell. The boogieman broke down in front of his enemies and Death.

"Then do it already. If you won't, then the Nightmares will. I've given up anyway. There was never any real hope that I would win. It was all for nothing in the end."

Pitch couldn't stop himself, he couldn't even look anyone in the eye, he just rambled on knowing that sooner or later he would be killed. If these were his last moments then he might as well just say everything.

"All I wanted was to be seen anyway. I didn't want another Dark Age. I just wanted to be seen, and not hated for what I am… I just- for once I wanted to know what it felt like to win."

None of the guardians could believe what he was saying. North had dropped his swords, Tooth couldn't find the energy to fly, Bunny's ears drooped, Sandy's jaw had dropped in pure shock and Jack felt like his heart was breaking.

"I know none of you will probably ever forgive me, especially you Sanderson, but please just accept the fact that I am sorry. I just- I- I lost myself. Just know that I tried to apologize, even if you never accept it."

Everyone was crying now. Jack, Bunny, Tooth, North and especially Sandy. Death pulled her scythe away from Pitch and placed it against the ground for her to lean on. Pitch stood up from his position on the ground, hunched in defeat, he turned his head away from the Guardians and death.

He lifted his left hand and opened the front of his robe, laying bare the left side of his chest, and his heart.

"Death, would you at least be merciful and do it fast. I don't care if it's painful, just rip my soul out of my beating heart already."

The five guardians looked at Death, waiting to see what her reaction would be. She slowly walked forward, painfully slow steps. Pitch closed his eyes and waited for the horrible burning pain that would surely come. But it never did. Death wrapped her arms around him tightly and hugged him.

"You don't need to fear me anymore Pitch. I'm not going to hurt you." Pitch's eyes widened in shock. "You have repented for your sins, and your fate has been changed in your favor. Only Death can cheat death, but she can help others cheat it too. I was going to let those Nightmares carry you away to die, but after seeing this, I think you deserve to live." She pulled away slightly and removed Pitch's hand from his robe, allowing it to cover his heart again.

The two of them saw something golden move in the corner of their eyes. Death and Pitch pulled apart to see Sandy walking towards them. He stopped a few feet in front of Pitch and used his dream sand to write 'I forgive you' above his head.

For the first time in many many years, Pitch smiled.

"Come, we must go. You need to rest. I'll take you to my manor." Death whispered to him. Pitch nodded and went with her to a dark enough shadow. She had already started to shadow travel out of there, but Pitch held her back for a moment.

She heard him whisper a soft 'Thank you' to the guardian of dreams, before allowing himself to be taken to Death's manor.

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Thanks for reading. Hope you liked it. Please review that way I know whether I'm writing good stuff or not.

I might continue this story, depends on the feedback i get.


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